(bdw-l-20) Finding Friendship: Cuts
by Yemi Hikari
Summary: This contains some cuts from Finding Friendship that didn't work out.
1. Surveying Destruction

Disclaimer – I don't own Bleach. This is how chapter seven for Finding Friendship started out. I ended up cutting it and rewriting the chapter because it honestly didn't feel right.

**Finding Friendship  
>Surveying<em> Destruction<em>**

One of the things a person must expect when war occurs is destruction. Ichigo expected to see destruction when Ichigo returned from the kings realm to the surface. He didn't though expect to see the amount of rubble piled up compared to the first time he came down from the palace. He carefully looked around trying to find the spiritual pressures of his friends. The orange haired teens frustrations at not finding his friends grew as he watched some of the piles of rubble disappear to reveal the buildings the Shinigami used with mixed results.

Ganju walked ahead to try and peer into the distance. The others headed in the other direction to see if they couldn't find people in that direction that were in need of help.

"Ichigo!"

The young victor turned his head to look at the short fukutaicho of the thirteenth division. His mouth spread into a smile as he looked at the dark haired Shinigami. "Rukia!" His face fell suddenly. "Where are Toshiro and Rangiku-san."

The small fukutaicho of the thirteenth division frowned at her friend. "Shouldn't you be resting? There is nothing left for you to do at this point."

Ichigo frowned before shaking his head. "I'm worried about Toshiro and Rangiku-san. I want to make sure they are all right. They are after all family."

Rukia's mouth opened slightly as if she wasn't sure what to say to her friend. She watched as a hand reached up to scratch the top of his head. She also watched the look on Orihime's face as Ichigo verbally called Rangiku and Toshiro family. "They've been both taken to the forth division. They're in isolation... so you won't be able to see them." The small female swallowed. "Nobodies allowed to see them."

"Why? Toshiro's all right isn't he? He's pretty tough."

"Ichigo..." The small female looked at the ground. "Hitsugaya Taicho... Matsumoto Fukutaicho... they and Otoribashi and Mugurama Taicho were killes and turned into zombies."

Ichigo felt the corner of his mouth twitch. "This is a joke, right?"

"No... they're alive again. They've been brought back by Mayuri... we think." Rukia looked away.

Ichigo took a deep breath. "I think I'll head to where tenth division should be. Are any of the division buildings left?"

"I don't know. They're still trying to figure out which buildings simply need repairs and which ones need to be replaced." Rukia took a deep breath. "You should be resting Ichigo."

"I don't feel like it." The orange haired teen headed toward where the tenth division. Ganju and Rukia followed behind the young man as he headed towards the tenth division. When he arrived at the place tenth division once stood. A few of the buildings had come back including some of the wall structure. Ichigo headed first to where the tenth division offices were located. The offices were in tact except for a missing wall.

Ichigo stepped into the area and noticed that some of the items were strewn on the floor. He stepped over and picked up a photo and paused as he looked at the picture. He recognized the two people smiling at the camera with their fingers up in the shape of the peace sign while their other arm wrapped around the shoulders of a younger Hitsugaya Toshiro. The strange coincidence was that he identified both people as being the same person. Rukia sighed from the ground outside the office. "Ichigo... you shouldn't be butting into Hitsugaya Taicho and Matsumoto-san's things like this."

The orange haired teen's brown eyes looked at the member of the Shiba clan who was now picking his nose. "Ganju... what can you tell me about the previous taicho of the tenth division?"

"Him? He was the same person as the fukutaicho of the thirteenth division before Rukia."

Rukia's mouth opened. "Kaien-dono... you're brother." A laugh came from her mouth. "How is that even possible."

One of Ichigo's eyebrow rose up. "Ganju... you said you had one brother, right?"

"Yeah... so?"

The orange haired teen held up a picture for Ganju to see. He pointed his finger at his father. "This is your brother, right?"

"Yeah. They're my brother."

Rukia stepped up into the office and grabbed the picture from Ichigo and examined the picture. "Wait... those aren't two people. You mean to say that you had two older brothers?"

"No. I only had one. They're the same person."

"No. They're the same person. They were inseparable."

Ichigo took a deep breath before taking the picture from Rukia and picking up the pictures scattered on the ground. "I don't think my father would agree with that statement."

"Ichigo..." The small female watched as he continued to try and clean up. "Why are you doing this?"

"How's Toshiro going to feel with all of this gone."

"Ichigo!"

The orange teen paused and looked at his friend. "What? I can't sit still doing nothing while Toshiro's stuck in the forth." He looked up at Ganju. "Are you going to help? They are family after all."

The other male began to pick up the items in the room when a sharp sound caused them to look up. Nanao of the first division glared at them. "What are you doing?"

Rukia took a deep breath. "Nothing. We're not trying to cause trouble."

"We're gathering up Toshiro and Rangiku's things from the office for safe keeping."

Nanao took a deep breath and headed over to the wall and picked up a box before coming back to help pick up items. "I'm surprised you're not visiting Hitsugaya Taicho."

"Rukia told me he's in isolation. Is what they say is true?"

"That he was turned into a zombie? Yes. Poor child. While he was a zombie he was made to attack Madarame and Ayasegawa. He's not responding to anybody either. I think this whole thing upset him. That's why I thought you would visit him."

"I thought about it. I then got to thinking. His home's been wrecked and he doesn't have a place to go back to once he gets out. Someone's got to see to things to make sure it ends up all right. He's also family, so I want to make sure things are just right for when he gets home. I'd do the same for my dad or my sisters."

Nanao picked up the last of the pictures from the ground. "Family? It is odd for you to refer to him that way."

Ichigo looked at the picture in his hands before tossing it into the box. "I thought I was overstepping things before. I didn't know my dad's connection to Toshiro and Rangiku-san before."

"Your..." The female fukutaicho of the first blinked a couple of times. She thought about the situation for a few minutes.


	2. Tension

This is a cut from chapter ten. Toshiro's reaction felt off.

**Finding Friendship  
><em>Tension<em>**

"You... when were you going to tell me?" The boy swung his legs over the bed and turned his head so he couldn't look Ichigo in the eye.

"When?" Ichigo blinked a couple of times. "I couldn't have told you until recently because I just found out myself. I wanted to tell you last night, but you kept going ballistic on me. Rangiku-san also wanted to talk to you about something."

Toshiro turned his head. His lips twisted up on his lips. "I guess it would make sense for you to take over after him."

Two brown eyes widened before Ichigo shook his head. "Toshiro... I'm not going to be taking over from you."

"You... you're his son. Not me."

"Do you want me to hit you again?" Ichigo watched as the boy flinched. "I don't want to hit you. You're acting like an idiot though. You're family. I'm staying because you're family and you need my help." The orange haired teen watched as the boy swallowed. "Toshiro... would you like me to stay in your room... my dad's old room?"

"Yeah. I don't want to be left alone."


	3. Off Hacked

_When I wrote chapter thirteen the last part started going in this direction. However... the story ended up heading towards the route of... "we don't want Yukio near Toshiro because he's a bad influence" compared to the version I ended up with._

**Finding Friendship  
><em>Off Hacked<em>**

Ichigo's brown eyes blinked a couple of times before face palming his forehead. He then let out a deep breath as he let his arm drop to his side.

"He's actually repeating something Karin said about Toshiro. She called him her unintentional stalker. When I told her that was creepy she told me an unintentional stalker is like the students in school who are unable to approach their crushes and claimed that it's not just a girl thing. She's seen her guy friends do it as well. She said it becomes a concerning issue when the person crushing on someone becomes possessive of their crush in a manner that they feel they are the only one who can have that person."

Ukitake's eyebrows rose up. "I'm personally concerned with what you just said even if your sister is not."

Kyoraku let out a sigh. "You didn't even get to the masochist part."

"That? She says Toshiro is a complete idiot when he is around her that becomes so focused on protecting her that he doesn't think of his own safety. She then said the reason he does this is because he has yet to admit how he feels."

The head taicho pushed his lips together before letting out a whistle. "What about Yukio's personal behavior? Doesn't he hate losing? He seems to have an ego when it comes to his abilities."

"Yes. Somewhat. I'm not really sure. Yukio actually goes to school with Karin and Yuzu and they've both said he's actually mellowed out since he fought Toshiro. He's even started coming frequently to school. Despite the fact he's supposed to be a grade or two above them he's flunked because he skipped school too much. The reason I found out was because Yuzu was talking about how one of her friends has a crush on him and I asked. Karin specifically said his bark is worse then his bite."

"Did you know she was hanging out with the two of them."

"No. I knew she wasn't hanging out with her usual group of guy friend after the incident. I thought it was because in middle school they separate the girls and boys teams."

Ukitake looked at Kyoraku. "Is it worth the chance?"

"I'm not sure. I really don't trust him."

"Toshiro seemed fond of him."


End file.
